Vandals destroy graves at 170-year-old cemetery in Southern California

Community members in San Bernardino stepped in to help two sisters after KTLA reported that they discovered their father’s grave at Pioneer Memorial Cemetery had been desecrated and his ashes scattered.

The Medrano sisters, who have been visiting their father’s gravesite in the cemetery for the last 30 years, found the devastating damage to his grave and others on May 11.

After San Bernardino native Abel Butler saw the story on KTLA 5 News, who also has family in the cemetery, decided to step in with some help of his own.

KTLA’s Shelby Nelson caught up with Butler as he was painting and perfecting the Pioneer Memorial Cemetery sign.

Butler, who has been working at the cemetery for the last three days with the help of a few others, said after he heard what happened to the Medrano sisters, he raced over to the cemetery.

“I have family here and I had to check them and make sure their stones weren’t vandalized,” he said.

He then reached out to one of the sisters, Margaret, to offer his condolences and said that’s when he decided to help with what little money he had to spruce up a place that so many people hold dear.

“This represents not only San Bernardino, but this represents everyone’s loved ones that are in the cemetery,” Butler added.

One of the problems is that the cemetery is surrounded by homeless encampments and illegal drug activity, causing many who come to visit their departed loved ones to say they don’t feel safe.

“If there’s no safety, there’s not going to be any visitors and it’s going to seem like nobody cares, but there are a lot of people that care for their family in there,” Butler said.

The 170-year-old city-owned cemetery operates like a park with funds from the city’s general fund and is maintained by the parks department.

“Given its age, it predates many of the laws that are currently in place to protect the property,” San Bernardino spokesperson Jeff Kraus told KTLA. “It is incumbent upon the city and its general funds that pays for the maintenance, the upkeep, the security and all the operations of the Pioneer Cemetery.”

Krauss also said that the city built a fence around the cemetery about two years ago to keep it more secure, with a private security guard opening and closing the gate, but that’s about the only protection the cemetery has.

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Regarding the homeless encampments surrounding the cemetery, city officials said due to a temporary injunction filed by the ACLU, they are currently limited from taking any action.

“Unless they are physically breaking the law or operating outside of the injunction against the City of San Bernardino, it’s very difficult for us to do anything, to say, ‘You have to move,’” Kraus explained.

The city is looking at the possibility of having a larger police presence at the park.

As for Butler, he said he plans to continue doing work there while he has help and said the city might put flowers around the sign to spruce it up.

A GoFundMe has been organized by community members for those who would like donate to the ongoing repair efforts.

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